Known for residents who love activities in the great outdoors, Dallas can now add another first to its quest to keep the city eco-friendly.

This weekend residents and visitors alike can take part in an inaugural Dallas Bike Ride. The ride will offer 20 miles of closed roads turned into a recreational bike ride event that organizers say they are hoping will unite Dallas resident’s love for cycling for years to come.

Michelle Cleveland, Marketing Director of Capital Sports Ventures, one of the companies organizing the event said, “Dallas has so much potential to become a great bicycling city.”

Capital Sports Venture is also working with Dallas Sports Commission, Visit Dallas, Uptown Dallas Inc., and Downtown Dallas Inc. to make the inaugural bike ride one to remember.

“This is a way to celebrate and encourage bicycling in Dallas,” Cleveland added.

With a goal of 4,000 riders this weekend, the ride begins and ends at City Hall Plaza.

The 20-mile route was mapped out with a professional course design team, Racing Systems, as well as a local event operator, Event Southwest, and the neighborhoods and districts around Dallas. The idea was unequivocally to showcase some of the best that Dallas offers.

“The route goes through eight different neighborhoods and crosses the Trinity River using four different bridges,” Cleveland explained.

While it is not certain if this route will be the same one in years to come, Cleveland did confirm “We work hard to create a course that gives riders a create experience and shows them different parts of the city on their bike, as well as a course that has minimal traffic impacts due to the event road closures. Creating a course is a mix of art and science. We will collect feedback directly from riders, the general public and neighborhoods about the course in order to improve it year after year.”

At the end of the scenic ride, riders will find a festival awaiting in conjunction with Methodist Dallas.

The Methodist Dallas Finish Festival actually begins at 9:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and will feature headliner DJ Spinderella of Salt-N-Pepa. There will also be performances by Petty Theft, playing the music of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, with band member Mike Rhyner of The Ticket Sportsradio, and DJSC, the official DJ of the Dallas Cowboys.

Methodist Dallas is giving away 1,000 free yoga mats and festival highlights include a yoga session by a Methodist Dallas yoga teacher, a Health and Wellness Zone presented by Cigna with a Dallas Wings youth basketball clinic, a Kids Zone presented by KIND Healthy Snacks, a partner village with giveaways and activities from our sponsors and founding partners, a community bike village with local bike clubs and our beneficiaries, bike mechanics and food trucks.

Cleveland said Methodist Dallas came onboard to sponsor the bike ride because “They care deeply about the health and well-being of Dallasites so it was a natural fit to partner on a recreational event that encourages a healthy life-style and being active.”

“The launch of dockless bikeshare this summer has made biking more accessible,” Cleveland said. “Local bike shops are expanding and opening new stores in the city. There are 15 neighborhood-based Bike Friendly organizations in the area that focus on advocating for better bicycling. And the City of Dallas itself is working on making biking better with plans to build new trails and protected bike infrastructure.”

With this in mind the founding partners of the inaugural bike ride saw an opportunity to create a fun, recreational, closed-road bike event that would welcome those interested-but-concerned bicyclists and create a bike experience for all.

And if you don’t have a bike, well, that’s okay too.

“We’ve partnered with local bike shop and our Official Bike Shop Partner, Richardson Bike Mart, to provide rentals for rider that they can pick up and drop off at the ride start and finish,” Cleveland concluded.

Bikes must be reserved in advance and include a helmet rental. For more information visit DallasBikerRide/rentals to reserve a bike from Richardson Bike Mart.

The ride begins at 8:00 a.m. and riders must be in their starting corrals by 7:45 a.m.

Registration $70 and riders can register day off with the fee also including a Dallas Bike Ride water bottle, and a Rider Identification Kit with rider bib, helmet sticker and bike sticker. Children ages three to seven are free to sign up and youth ages eight to 15 are $30.